presby72
New Member
First batch and I purchased a second mr beer for bottling with the bottling wand and spiggot, my question is how mu corn sugar to add?
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Justibone
Well-Known Member
presby72
New Member
As always thanks for the quick reply, I have seen these sites before and I get the answer of 1.79oz but the next conversion is not so easy. I have no scale and the conversion of a dry oz to cups is tricky as it of course depends on the substance and I can't find anyplace that will perform the conversion of 1.79oz of corn sugar to cups.
Tombstone0
Well-Known Member
A lot of people use 3/4 of a cup for 5 gallons, since Mr. Beer is about 2 gallons 2/5 of that would mean you should use 1/5 of a cup.
Of course, you probably don't have a 1/5 measuring cup, it's 1.6 eighths of a cup, or .8 quarters of a cup...Not the easiest measurement to make.
Edit. No idea how I got 1/5 of a cup here, it should actually be 3/10.
Ampsonic
Well-Known Member
So I bottled my first brew yesterday. By the time I got to my final 1 liter bottle, the beer had dropped below the spigot. So I tilted the key forward so I could get the last bit out. Is this a no no? It seemed much cloudier than the others.
Justibone
Well-Known Member
It's not a no-no. The extra cloudiness is just extra trub -- mostly yeast. It should settle out, so as long as you pour it into a glass (and don't drink it straight from the bottle) it should be okay.
Also, if you put too much sugar in your bottles, and then if you add that extra yeast, you're more likely to get "bottle bombs". If you did your sugar right, no worries.
A lot of people drink "surveillance beers", usually one a week (until it starts tasting really good), and your trub-beer sounds like a good candidate for the one-week or two-week surveillance beer.
The way to fix your issue is to rig up some sort of "dip tube". Searching the forums will show you how other people have made them for their fermentors or bottling buckets, either using actual hardware or even a wine cork and a ballpoint pen! (Whatever works, I guess!)
Nova5
Well-Known Member
You picked up some trub (aka crap) with it, they all have some in it, It will fall to the bottom of the bottle during carbing. No need to worry. I do it all the time with my Mr Beer mixes.
Ampsonic
Well-Known Member
It also didn't fill the bottle up all the way (maybe a little over 1/2), but it had the full amount of sugar.....is it going to turn into a bottle bomb? (plastic 1liter bottle, 1.5 teaspoon corn sugar)
Justibone
Well-Known Member
Nah.
Air compresses, liquids don't. I've never experienced it, but I believe that underfilled bottles are more likely to be flat than to be explosive.
Carbing should provide about 3 volumes (3L of CO2 in your 1L bottle). All that gas either gets crammed in the tiny headspace, or it goes into solution. Since you have half as much liquid and more than twice as much headspace, if anything that beer could either be more carbed (if the pressure in the airspace is as high as normal) or it could be flat (if the pressure built up is insufficient to force gas into solution).
I think most of those who have posted here about this have experienced flat beers from only half-filling them like that.
There are different ways to handle half-full beers on bottling day:
1) drink it
2) add water and bottle it
3) add other beer and bottle it
4) add liquor + beer, or liquor + water
5) dump it (FOR SHAME!! Don't you DARE!!!
)So, if it's half-full of crap, and half-full of CO2, it sounds like a prime candidate for a surveillance beer to me.
Ampsonic
Well-Known Member
I'll crack it after a week to tide me over. Thanks!
Tallmanbrewer
Well-Known Member
"surveillance beers" LOL! Perfect!
The last half filled bottled I had had the full amount of sugar in it(I do tabs in bottles). It came out great, super carbonation. Even with a perfect pour it was 75% head.
Next time you bottle just keep checking through the lid to check when the trub is about to come through your spigot.
Next time you bottle just keep checking through the lid to check when the trub is about to come through your spigot.
I use my Mr. Beer to make hard cider. Works great, and the small batches are just the right size. Now that cider season is just around the corner, I am planning two or three batches: MacIntosh Apple Cider (worked great last year), Pear Cider (Peary), and some kind of apple cider-wild blueberry blend. Start sweet wine yeast in unprocessed apple juice, dump into your cider and sugar filled Mr. Beer, wait two weeks, and viola....
nianticcardplayer
Homebrewing Since 2009
A While back I was going through some other posts and forums in reference to all things Mr. Beer related......and one post I came across said that some of the home brew shops/internet store fronts will split recipe batches to Mr. Beer sized...I did email Annapolis Home Brew sometime back and they advised in a return email that they used to split their recipes for "small batch brewing", but one has to call....Does anyone know if any other places will split their recipes as well....
Found out that if the Mr. Beer keg is filled just below the "q" that's 2.4 gallons. as long as the fermentation doesn't go to crazy that could work? What does anyone else think?
Found out that if the Mr. Beer keg is filled just below the "q" that's 2.4 gallons. as long as the fermentation doesn't go to crazy that could work? What does anyone else think?
ndhoffma
Well-Known Member
Thats the key - I tried to do something a little higher gravity last year in the Mr Beer & after about 1 day---- ka-boom
Otherwise Im sure it would be fine
I've found if you search places for kit recipes they give you the measurments you can easily make your own recipe from that. But don't cut down the hops in half because the utilization will get messed up.
Um, hops utilization is usually figured as a ratio of hops to fermentables, if you cut the fermentables, you need to cut the hops as well. If you want to keep the IBU's and the hop schedule the same.
A software program like beersmith will allow you to enter a recipe then scale it to whatever size you wish to make. It will clearly show you the amounts if each ingredient that needs to be adjusted.
You can enter say a 12 gallon recipe, from this forum, or a magazine, then scale it to 2.3 or 2.4 gallons. It will then show the corrected amounts of malt, hops and other items. It has helped me tremendously.
A software program like beersmith will allow you to enter a recipe then scale it to whatever size you wish to make. It will clearly show you the amounts if each ingredient that needs to be adjusted.
You can enter say a 12 gallon recipe, from this forum, or a magazine, then scale it to 2.3 or 2.4 gallons. It will then show the corrected amounts of malt, hops and other items. It has helped me tremendously.
ChrisGeb
Active Member
Got a Mr. Beer kit awhile back as a gift and had an ingredient kit for a raspberry wheat so I made it the other day just to make it and get rid of it.....it's been about 5 days now and looks like absolutely NOTHING has happened. Not really sure what to do, I don't even see any yeast on top of the wort at all either.
Wait it out? Just scrap it? What would you do?
Wait it out? Just scrap it? What would you do?
Banjoman76
Well-Known Member
Do you have a krausen ring at the top of the fermenter ?
MrBeer yeast is notoriously quick or dead
Recommendation: Try Fermentis US-05
Okay to be sure that fermentation has or hasn't happened, you need a hydrometer. I'm going to assume you don't have that yet. Do you have a layer of sediment on the bottom of the keg?
If you do, then fermentation probably has happened. You don't usually see much with the basic Mr. Beer kits, as the yeast they use seem to be shy. They work, they just don't usually work when you are watching.....
I would in anycase, wait another week, at least. If you followed the instructions, it is probably okay. After another week, taste it. If it tastes like flat beer, then continue to bottle it with priming sugar, as per the instructions.
If it tastes sweet, like syrup, then the yeast didn't work. But that problem can be worked then, I'll bet you are okay.
Oh, and NEVER scrap a beer, it's like sacrilege. If you cannot stand the taste of it, wait it out. Time, is your friend. Give it a week, a month, several months... If you STILL cannot stand the taste of it, then maybe consider scrapping.
If you do, then fermentation probably has happened. You don't usually see much with the basic Mr. Beer kits, as the yeast they use seem to be shy. They work, they just don't usually work when you are watching.....
I would in anycase, wait another week, at least. If you followed the instructions, it is probably okay. After another week, taste it. If it tastes like flat beer, then continue to bottle it with priming sugar, as per the instructions.
If it tastes sweet, like syrup, then the yeast didn't work. But that problem can be worked then, I'll bet you are okay.
Oh, and NEVER scrap a beer, it's like sacrilege. If you cannot stand the taste of it, wait it out. Time, is your friend. Give it a week, a month, several months... If you STILL cannot stand the taste of it, then maybe consider scrapping.
ChrisGeb
Active Member
It's looked like this since I "brewed" it (and use that term lightly). I suspected the yeast were dead and called Mr. Beer to see if they had any advice or could send me a new kit or new yeast or something and they assured me there was no way the yeast could be dead.
Pretty sure they're dead
ChrisGeb
Active Member
I have another packet of yeast (I had two kits). Should I "repitch" the yeast with the second packet or should I just toss this batch out?
Hang on to that yeast. Wait a week. (see my last post).
You won't get a ring of Krausen with the Mr. Beer yeast, it just isn't that dramatic.
Did you use both kits in this one batch? Pitching the second packet of yeast won't hurt anything, but it probably isn't necessary.
Like I said before, wait a week. Relax.... and all that jazz.
You won't get a ring of Krausen with the Mr. Beer yeast, it just isn't that dramatic.
Did you use both kits in this one batch? Pitching the second packet of yeast won't hurt anything, but it probably isn't necessary.
Like I said before, wait a week. Relax.... and all that jazz.
ChrisGeb
Active Member
I have a hydrometer......problem is I was lazy and didn't take an initial reading seeing as it was a Mr. Beer kit. I have a big boy kit too haha. I basically just brewed it bc I wanted to get rid of my Mr. Beer ingredients. Tough to see but I don't think I have any sediment. The only reason I would scrap it was because I thought the yeast didn't work at all and I wasn't sure what to do with it if that were the case. I'll probably just leave it fermenting for another week and a half and see what happens.
I have one batch of Mr. Beer not fermenting sitting next to a 5 gallon batch of pumpkin ale that is fermenting soo crazy I have the worst blow off I've seen. Random brown spots all over half the room from when the airlock cap blew off.
I have one batch of Mr. Beer not fermenting sitting next to a 5 gallon batch of pumpkin ale that is fermenting soo crazy I have the worst blow off I've seen. Random brown spots all over half the room from when the airlock cap blew off.
Okay, I assumed you were a little newer to the hobby. If you want to pitch the other packet, I'd suggest to rehydrate it first to see if it is viable. Or use a better quality yeast. But you can do that if nothing happens after another week.
It's possible, to get some Mr. Beer ingredient profiles to import to BeerSmith. Since it is an extract based recipe, this can figure, quite accurately, your OG. You can measure your FG yourself and see where you are at. I don't have access to my desktop computer for a couple weeks yet, so I cannot send them or post them here yet. But if you are interested, they can be found at the MrBeerFans forum.
Good luck.
It's possible, to get some Mr. Beer ingredient profiles to import to BeerSmith. Since it is an extract based recipe, this can figure, quite accurately, your OG. You can measure your FG yourself and see where you are at. I don't have access to my desktop computer for a couple weeks yet, so I cannot send them or post them here yet. But if you are interested, they can be found at the MrBeerFans forum.
Good luck.
ChrisGeb
Active Member
Thanks, I don't have beersmith because I have a mac, I have beeralchemy though but I have no idea how to do what you just explained haha. I mean I am new, I'm still only a couple batches deep with my 5 gallon set up (If you couldn't tell). Yea, I just used the Mr. Beer yeast because I didn't particularly care that much about this batch, I just didn't know if there was something I could do to save it.
I've brewed 27 different Mr. Beer recipes in 2010 ranging from simple to complicated and I doubt I'll ever 'advance' to another type of brewing. Every recipe has produced great tasting beer and I've never had an issue with infection, oxidation or dead yeast just following the standard Mr. Beer directions. I've never moved the batches to a secondary fermenter or cold crashed them before bottling since the beers always come out clear and have great foam.
Mr. Beer brewing is perfect for my lifestyle and wallet, I can brew really good tasting beer with a minimum of fuss and bother. On brew day I typically brew 6 batches (12 gallons) of beer in my fermenters in about 7 hours start to finish including cleanup.
The 2 .13 gallon batch sizes are perfect for experimenting with new recipe additions and the kegs do not take up a lot of room. Instead of 'moving on' to other types of brewing I just keep tuning and tweaking my Mr. Beer recipes using the smaller fermenters.
Novacaine Recipe brewed June 2010:
1 Can West Coast Pale Ale HME
1 Can St. Patrick's Irish Stout HME
1 Can Golden Wheat UME
2 Cans Pale Export UME
2 Packets Dry Brewing Yeast
2 Packets Sterling Pellet Hops
2 Packets Northern Brewer Pellet Hops
1 Pouch Ale Liquid Yeast
2 Muslin Hop Sacks
Screwy Brewer
Mr. Beer brewing is perfect for my lifestyle and wallet, I can brew really good tasting beer with a minimum of fuss and bother. On brew day I typically brew 6 batches (12 gallons) of beer in my fermenters in about 7 hours start to finish including cleanup.
The 2 .13 gallon batch sizes are perfect for experimenting with new recipe additions and the kegs do not take up a lot of room. Instead of 'moving on' to other types of brewing I just keep tuning and tweaking my Mr. Beer recipes using the smaller fermenters.
Novacaine Recipe brewed June 2010:
1 Can West Coast Pale Ale HME
1 Can St. Patrick's Irish Stout HME
1 Can Golden Wheat UME
2 Cans Pale Export UME
2 Packets Dry Brewing Yeast
2 Packets Sterling Pellet Hops
2 Packets Northern Brewer Pellet Hops
1 Pouch Ale Liquid Yeast
2 Muslin Hop Sacks
Screwy Brewer
Justibone
Well-Known Member
Ringmaster
Well-Known Member
is it just me or is the wand a ***** to get into the spigot on those mr. beer's?
Nova5
Well-Known Member
Indeed. Be happy because the yeast sure are!
Man, you must be the first person on here to complain that your beer is bubbling too much, usually it's the opposite. Unless the thing starts puking up foam through the lid, don't worry about it. RDWHAHB!
LCTitan
Well-Known Member
I think I am going to have to start chilling the wort from Mr. Beer kits before I pitch my yeast. Adding the cold water before and after really doesn't bring down the temp that much and pitching the yeast after 5 minutes is way to soon as the temps are still about 87 degrees. Trying to really improve on the taste of these kits. I have a few more to make before we move on from Mr. Beer. We have been watching temps pretty closely and sanitization has been very good. Into the Ice Bath the next batch goes.
Me too. that's what scared me about the high volume of bubbling. I had me wort sit out, covered, for about an hour waiting for the temperature to go down. it didn't, so i pitched the yeast around 80 something degrees. i thought that might mess up the fermentation process. suggestions for lowering temperature, quickly
LCTitan
Well-Known Member
I have the same concerns as you. I am going to set the next batch of wort into the sink in an ice bath for a bit next time to bring down the temp of the wort before I add it to the keg and then top it off with water. Temp of my last batch was about 85 degrees before I pitched the yeast. I actually waited about an hour for temps to come down. Going to be moving away from Mr. Beer products into 5 gallon extract kits by late fall. Mr. Beer has been a great starting point though but they leave out too many important steps and processes when you go by their instructions.
Justibone
Well-Known Member
Short Answer: yes.
Long answer: there are a lot of concerns that new brewers have. It's perfectly normal to worry, which is why the acronym RDWHAHB was invented. Making beer is stressful because you have to let go of control -- remember that it *wants* to be beer, and let it become what it wants to be.
Also, the FAQ is full of useful information, give it a good perusal. Then read it in detail. It will calm new-beer-parent nerves.
Tallmanbrewer
Well-Known Member
It's a pretty tight fit. I usually dip the end that goes into the spigot in my sanitizer first...helps a little.
webnmar
Well-Known Member
Ref: LCTitan, unclebrew, and others
For temp control, refrigerate your water ahead of time. I have 1 Gal containers (left over from Apple Juice for EdWort's ApfelWein), I store StarSan in them mostly, but for brew day, I pour out into my bottling bucket, fill the jugs with my water, put it in the fridge and chill while I do everything else. Then, when I add the 1 Gal to the fermenter, add wort, and top off to 2.2 gals, the water added has been chilled and brings my temps to around 65degs. Perfect.
Hope this helps.
For temp control, refrigerate your water ahead of time. I have 1 Gal containers (left over from Apple Juice for EdWort's ApfelWein), I store StarSan in them mostly, but for brew day, I pour out into my bottling bucket, fill the jugs with my water, put it in the fridge and chill while I do everything else. Then, when I add the 1 Gal to the fermenter, add wort, and top off to 2.2 gals, the water added has been chilled and brings my temps to around 65degs. Perfect.
Hope this helps.
Banjoman76
Well-Known Member
I've brewed 27 different Mr. Beer recipes in 2010 ranging from simple to complicated and I doubt I'll ever 'advance' to another type of brewing. Every recipe has produced great tasting beer and I've never had an issue with infection, oxidation or dead yeast just following the standard Mr. Beer directions. I've never moved the batches to a secondary fermenter or cold crashed them before bottling since the beers always come out clear and have great foam.
Mr. Beer brewing is perfect for my lifestyle and wallet, I can brew really good tasting beer with a minimum of fuss and bother. On brew day I typically brew 6 batches (12 gallons) of beer in my fermenters in about 7 hours start to finish including cleanup.
The 2 .13 gallon batch sizes are perfect for experimenting with new recipe additions and the kegs do not take up a lot of room. Instead of 'moving on' to other types of brewing I just keep tuning and tweaking my Mr. Beer recipes using the smaller fermenters.
Novacaine Recipe brewed June 2010:
1 Can West Coast Pale Ale HME
1 Can St. Patrick's Irish Stout HME
1 Can Golden Wheat UME
2 Cans Pale Export UME
2 Packets Dry Brewing Yeast
2 Packets Sterling Pellet Hops
2 Packets Northern Brewer Pellet Hops
1 Pouch Ale Liquid Yeast
2 Muslin Hop Sacks
Screwy Brewer
I hated that #@$@# spigot so much that I modified my 3 kegs to the spigot that you use with the 6.5 and 7.9 gallon bottling buckets. I used a dremel to expand the hole. It made attaching a 3/16 hose with a bottling wand at bottling time a snap.
My MrBeer days are over as I have moved up to mostly 5 gallon all-grain batches with an extract from time to time. But they come in handy for small experimental batches.
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